By Ankita Joshi
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – While opponents of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s progressive policies claim crime has increased since he took office, data has shown that counties with tough-on-crime policies have actually had a greater increase in crime than in San Francisco, said Boudin supporters.
An example includes District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert of Sacramento County, who has characterized her time in office with her tough-on-crime policies.
“I think it’s a very, very dangerous time right now in California,” Schubert has said in regard to the perceived rise in violent crime.
Issues that have been raised by Schubert and others who support a more conservative approach to crime include zero bail policies which allow for low-level offenders to be released while they await trial.
Their main arguments contend that the recent increase in crime in California is due to progressive prosecutors, such as Boudin, not doing their jobs effectively.
However, critics and data have shown that these “tough-on-crime” policies implemented by Schubert and others have not resulted in a decrease of crime in their respective counties.
San Francisco and Los Angeles, both of which have progressive DAs, have much lower violent crime rates than Sacramento where Schubert resides.
Reports from their respective police departments for the 2020 – 2021 calendar year shows that San Francisco had a 17 percent increase in homicide and Los Angeles had a 12 percent increase in homicide, while Sacramento has had a 31 percent increase in homicide.
This disparity in percentages follows a similar pattern for rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.
Anne Irwin of Smart Justice California has acknowledged that the recent critiques of progressive DAs is the result of “people [being]… concerned about crime, more so than they were a few years ago,” attributing this change to “pandemic anxiety.
“We always knew that there would be a coordinated effort by conservatives and others on the right to unwind the progress we have made, and that day is here,” Irwin has said.
Irwin added, “I think Schubert is certainly hyping a sensationalized, Fox News image of California, and she’s putting all of her eggs in that basket, but when the votes are counted, a Fox News view of the world just doesn’t win in a California statewide race.
“Schubert is trying to blame progressive DAs in two places for really vexing societal problems, but nearly every community in California is facing the same problems no matter who is the DA,” Irwin continued.
Haven’t been to SF since I went to see Hamilton four or five years ago. The piles of used hypodermic needles on the sidewalk, people shooting up on the street and the stench of urine on Market Street were too much for me. Is it because of DA policy? I don’t know if it contributes to the scene in SF but comparing SF social policies is a non-starter for me.
I don’t think these transparently political articles comparing one city with a threatened, progressive DA and one supposed set of politics to another city with another supposed set of politics are going to convert anyone but the already converted. Cities are not identical things that you can compare one-to-one like in a science experiment. Sacramento has always had a rough underbelly . . . a rough underbelly . . . as has San Francisco had it’s rough underbelly . . . rough underbelly . . . but the roughness of the underbellies are not so identical as to lend themselves to a stats analysis.
Alan M
Given the propensity of Boudin recall proponents to cite such comparisons in their favor, what’s fit for the goose is fit for the gander. If you’re against data comparisons, then come out against those criticizing Boudin.
If you read the SF Chronicle story on this and several other articles, it delves deeper into the statistics beyond just the headline to show that more conservative states that are relying increased enforcement are suffering higher increases in crime rates. It’s not just a comparison of two cities–that’s just an illustration that many readers need to relate to statistics. (Criticize how some people think, but that’s just life.)